Funny, isn’t it, how some bans work out? If you’d thought about it, before Mack Hansen’s midweek disciplinary hearing for the remarks he made about the officiating immediately after their pre-Christmas loss to Leinster, a three-week suspension would have served to hit the player and the province, while leaving him free to play for Ireland in the Six Nations.
This would also be seen to back the IRFU and their team of officials after Hansen had been largely excoriated amid the campaign for justice, while solely impacting Connacht rather than Ireland.
The Independent Disciplinary panel may have originally imposed a six-week suspension, but three weeks are suspended in light of Hansen’s written apology and him undergoing a course in match officiating.
Much of the reaction to Hansen’s remarks in the wake of a Leinster defeat to Connacht was certainly in stark contrast to, say, Johnny Sexton approaching the match referee Jaco Peyper in the aftermath of Leinster’s Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium.
The differences then was that Sexton didn’t play, was thus suited and verbally spoke directly to Peyper on the pitch. Here again though, a three-week suspension seemed to strike the perfect balance between the outraged demand for justice while also leaving the Irish captain free to play in the World Cup, albeit it denied him an Aviva farewell.
If anything though, Sexton’s sins were worse. For sure Hansen should not have used some of the language he used, but it wasn’t anything like as premeditated as the infamous Rassie Erasmus video rant and certainly not remotely comparable to a South African running on to a pitch and punching Irish referee Dave McHugh.
One ventures that one of the reasons the reaction to Hansen’s remarks and his hearing has attracted such attention is that his post-match conference was video recorded and went semi-viral. By contrast, Sexton’s remarks to Peyper were never recorded on video or audio.
Apparently, there has been some awful trolling toward one of the match officials in that Leinster-Connacht game, and this has even led to some of his children being bullied at school. But let’s keep this in perspective, Hansen should not have to carry the can for this as well. That is down to the cesspit that X and other outlets can be when anything can be said or written anonymously.
Hansen and Connacht have largely been portrayed as the bad guys this week, and it also reinforced some agendas that the province were given a suspended €10,000 fine related to Hansen’s sanction. This underlined that Connacht should shoulder the blame. Funny how no such fine was imposed on Leinster after Sexton’s three-week ban.
In the fallout from Hansen’s hearing and punishment, under the heading “Respect Our Game” alongside the IRFU crest, the Union issued a brief and statement on its X feed which read:
“A core pillar underpinning the game of Rugby in Ireland is around respect for all. Without match officials there is no game, and the IRFU is committed to delivering an inclusive game for all.
The IRFU and the four provinces will also be working to ensure all stakeholders of the Game understand their responsibilities.”
Oh please. Funny how the IRFU didn’t see fit to issue such a pompous statement in the wake of Sexton’s aforementioned three-game ban. Suffice to say their desire to “respect our game” seems somewhat selective.
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